objective

/əbˈdʒɛktɪv/

/əbˈdʒɛktɪv/

Other forms: objectives

An objective is something you plan to achieve. A military objective is the overall plan for a mission. The objective for a bake sale is to raise money. If your objective is to learn a new word, you have succeeded.

An objective is the point of something. If you don’t understand the objective of a class, then you don’t know what you were supposed to learn. The word itself is often used in business or work. Another meaning of objective is “looking at things in a detached, impartial, fact-based way.” If a police officer falls in love with a witness, it might be hard for her to stay objective. The word comes from the Latin ob "against" + jacere "to throw.”

Definitions of objective

1. noun

   the goal intended to be attained (and which is believed to be attainable)
   synonyms: aim, object, target

   types:

   grail

   the object of any prolonged endeavor

   business

   an immediate objective

   point

   the object of an activity

   thing

   a special objective

   occasions

   something you have to do

   type of:

   end, goal

   the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it
2. adjective

   undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena
   “an objective appraisal”

   “objective evidence”

   synonyms: nonsubjective

   clinical

   scientifically detached; unemotional

   impersonal, neutral

   having no personal preference

   verifiable

   capable of being verified

   antonyms:

   subjective

   taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias

   personal

   particular to a given individual

   prejudiced

   emanating from a person's emotions and prejudices

   unobjective, unverifiable

   (of e.g. evidence) not objective or easily verified
3. adjective

   emphasizing or expressing things as perceived without distortion of personal feelings, insertion of fictional matter, or interpretation
   “objective art”

   synonyms: documentary

   existent, real

   being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
4. adjective

   belonging to immediate experience of actual things or events
   “objective benefits”

   “an objective example”

   “there is no objective evidence of anything of the kind”

   synonyms:

   concrete

   capable of being perceived by the senses; not abstract or imaginary
5. adjective

   serving as or indicating the object of a verb or of certain prepositions and used for certain other purposes
   “objective case”

   synonyms: accusative
6. noun

   the lens or system of lenses in a telescope or microscope that is nearest the object being viewed
   synonyms: object glass, object lens, objective lens

   type of:

   lens, lens system, lense

   a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images